Doug Ross @ Journal

The Rickshaw Effect

Ohio is one of the states that, because of its high smog levels, is required to perform an emissions check on vehicles. Thus, it falls to the populace to wait in line at various E-check stations until someone adjudicates your vehicle's tailpipe gas and takes a $20 bill from you for the effort.

Aside from the fact that approximately 90% of all vehicles on the road comply and that ozone levels have dropped 30% or more in Ohio, here's why it's a bad idea for our area:

Ohio is in a valley threaded with interstate highways. That means if everyone in the metro area sold their cars and used bikes and rickshaws for transportation, we would still be an EPA offender. That's because through-traffic using highways like I-64, I-70, I-71, I-75, I-74, etc. would still be belching out carbon monoxide while we rode in our rickshaws. We happen to be at the confluence of an incredibly well-traveled set of routes. That's why national - not local - standards are needed.

E-Check